A long, long time ago in what now feels like a parallel universe, I used to bang out comedy sketches on an old portable typewriter and send them off to the BBC. They eventually bought one or two ‘quickies’, for which I was paid £10 each . This is now equivalent to over £100 and helped to pay for my expensive hairstyle.
Eventually I sent some material to Spike Milligan and ended up contributing to several programmes in the various ‘Q’ series and some other one-off TV shows of his.
Below are copies of some letters and telegrams (with creative spellings of my surname) which I received from Spike and his agent Norma Farnes. Spike's apparent difficulties in tracking me down make it appear as if I was on the run from the authorities.
Here also, is a copy of one of my sketches that Spike used. Other sketches have long since been lost though I do recall some of the ones he makes reference to.
The ‘Q’ series are often referred to as being amongst the most influential in British TV comedy and they are admired by many contemporary comedians. It’s pleasing to think that I made a small contribution to them even if my writing career went nowhere afterwards.......
